Emory University team explores promising new therapy for childhood leukemia with fewer toxic effects

According to the American Cancer Association, about one in three childhood cancer diagnoses is a type of leukemia. (WUPA via CNN Newsource)

ATLANTA, Georgia (WUPA) -- For decades, chemotherapy has been one of the most powerful weapons against childhood leukemia, but for kids, it can come with a cost. Leukemia begins in the bone marrow, the tissue inside your bones where blood cells are made.

According to the American Cancer Association, about one in three childhood cancer diagnoses is a type of leukemia.

“Chemotherapy goes in and it destroys all rapidly dividing cells that go, and any cell that is a cancer cell or cells like hair cells or sometimes skin cells, those get affected by chemotherapy because those are such broad agents that work on so many different cell lines,” said Dr. Waitman Aumann of Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.

That’s why Dr. Aumann and undergraduate researcher Declan Foley are exploring different approaches.

They are studying a treatment that doesn’t blast the entire body, but one designed to find a specific weakness in the cancer cells.

Foley is a rising senior at the University of Miami studying in Dr. Aumann’s Emory lab on a St. Baldrick’s Foundation Summer Fellows grant.

“I think our targeted therapies will definitely benefit the population because hopefully they will lead to fewer side effects such as muscle aches, nausea, and losing your hair,” said Foley.

The targeted agent can destroy cancer, but it can also destroy healthy tissues along the way and cause painful side effects.

This agent is more like a lock-and-key approach aimed at the biology driving the leukemia itself.

The hope is not just survival, but a better life after survival, because for children, beating cancer isn’t the end of the story.

“Our goal is to get them to their high school graduations, get them to prom, get them to weddings, and hopefully have kids one day, if they want to have kids,” said Dr. Aumann.

Many childhood leukemia patients survive.

The National Cancer Institute shows the five-year relative survival rate is 86.7 per cent, but treatment can follow them into adulthood, affecting growth, fertility, and overall quality of life.

Researchers say this study isn’t just about curing cancer, but about giving kids a chance to grow up with fewer scars from the cure itself.

“People often imagine their childhoods where they’re running in the field, or they’re playing with their friends on the playground, but some kids do not unfortunately, get the opportunity. And so I think that’s why this is amazing,” said Foley.

The work research is ongoing and being tested on mice.

It’s not a replacement for today’s standard treatment, but it points to where pediatric cancer care is headed-

More precise, less toxic, and built around the life a child still has ahead.

The team says their study in mice has already shown promising results, helping extend survival when the targeted agent is used against leukemia.

They hope for it to move into phase one clinical trials with patients within the next few years.

By Kaley Fedko